For The Love Of An Original
by Brittanyherbs
Summary: Elena's life takes on a wonderful new twist when she meets someone who changes her life forever. (AU)
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE.

It was sunny in Mystic Falls, which on a regular day wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but there had been a low gloom that hung over the town for quite a while. Elena didn't want to get out of bed. Actually she rarely wanted to get out of bed anymore. There had been too much loss in her life, and she didn't know how to cope with it all. Today, of all days was difficult for her, it was the day her parents and her brother had driven off the old bridge and died. Elena had always felt as though she was to mourn them extra on this day, but found that her heart could only contain, and therefore expunge, so much pain, and mourning.

She had Jenna. Her aunt, who had become the only person as of late who she could turn to. Jenna understood this missing and longing that had Elena all huddled in bed. Jenna worried about her, cared about her, loved her. She would be incomplete without her now, and Jenna knew it. It had been hard for her… To learn to raise a teenager while just barely being an adult herself. Jenna could remember the day she got the call, the call that told her she was all Elena had left and visa versa. She had rushed back to Mystic Falls, leaving her hopes of a degree and a life behind; to comfort and take care of the only member of her family who remained alive.

It had been three years. Elena couldn't tell if it passed slowly, or quickly... There were some moments which she revisited that seemed to flash by and others that seemed to lull on and on. There were even some moments which seemed hazy, and misplaced but she couldn't tell why. Jenna poked her head in the room, jostling Elena out of her reverie.

"How are you feeling?" Jenna asked somberly, coming in and taking a seat on the edge of the bed. She looked down at the Elena before her, this shell like person who used to be so full of life giving joy… Who was now just an empty shell of the person she used to be. How much loss was one person expected to endure before they shut everything and everyone out completely? Jenna didn't know and she wasn't entirely keen to find out either.

"I know today is a day where you don't feel like doing anything," Jenna began, reaching a hand over to gently stroke Elena's face, "God knows that I don't… But you've got to get up sweetie, you've got to face today with me because I can't do it alone." She had nearly choked on her own tears. But it was true, for all intents and purposes, Elena was the only person who could help Jenna get through today. Through every day. Elena was the last living connection to her sister that she had, and she couldn't, _wouldn't_ survive today without her.

Elena looked up from her pillows, and looked at her aunt's face. Her aunt who had always been so brave and so happy, so carefree… Whose face was now lined with tears, and wrinkled with worry. The accident had done this to her, changed her… Aged her in ways that her young soul had not been prepared for. Was it the accident? Or was it how Elena had been acting in the three years since the accident? Elena didn't know. And she was incredibly reluctant to find out. She sat up, and reached her arms out to embrace this woman who had learned to care for her even in her desperation to not be cared for.

Jenna almost leapt into her arms, and in that moment Elena felt warmth inside her. A warmth that had been gone for three years, a warmth that she had tried to find again in the arms of Stephan Salvatore. A warmth that she had tried to find in his brother Damon. The warmth of love, need, compassion… the warmth of human companionship.

Everything since the accident had begun to feel less and less human, less and less regular. More supernatural, more dark, more evil and for Elena; more alone. She recounted every night she's spent with Stephan, indulging herself in physical intimacy that didn't fill the void, saying three words to him that she hadn't meant to keep him around. Elena hadn't been afraid of losing his love, no. She had been afraid of losing him. Losing another 'person' in her life, of handing up the only individual she could talk to… Of losing the only connection that had started to make her life feel worth living again.

Of course there had been Damon as well, but it had been different with him… She could have loved Damon, realistically if she thought hard enough about it. He did have some redeeming qualities. But what Elena liked so much about him was that he liked to be reckless- Just enough to spark her interest. Damon was different than his brother that way, Stephan was too controlled, too absolute. It went against all of Elena's human nature to be with someone with his personality. Good girls love bad boys right?

But truthfully Elena loved neither of them. Perhaps she couldn't. Something in the pairing with them didn't feel right. It wasn't right.

Elena let go of Jenna, realizing that she had been holding on for far longer than necessary. Her own eyes mirrored Jenna's; Tear stained and bereft for love of someone (or someones) who were not ever to return. Poor Jenna, in all of this she had been so blind to the crazy goings on in Mystic Falls… The unnaturalness of it all. Elena wondered how she was so oblivious to it all; how all regular humans were.

Jenna started to speak but Elena was too lost in her thoughts to notice… Ignorance is bliss. And once you knew the kind of things that Elena knew, you would never know bliss again. Sleep stopped coming easy to her a long time ago. Perhaps four or so months since her parents and brother had died it started (or stopped depending on the way you look at it). She would sleep for either two hours or fifteen, there was no in between for her. And the hours where rest was the primary goal, were restless and riddled with dreams turned nightmare.

She couldn't remember the amount of times that she had dreamt of that night, of all the things that could have been if she had just stayed home that night… If she hadn't ditched her family to go to some stupid bonfire. She stopped counting the number of times she'd watched the car plunge into the watery depths of the river in her dreams. Dreams so real she could almost taste the unfiltered pungent flavour of it, like she could feel the splash and hear the _'plunk'_ as it fully submerged, ripping the air, and life from her family. Sometimes her dreams placed her in the car with her family, and she began to drown along with them.

In a way she would have preferred that fate, death with her family, versus a life without- Elena would choose death every time. She welcomed it really; death. To be fair she had tried, many times to kill herself. In the first two months it had only been at the sight or mention of the bridge that she felt the urge to be re united with her family. In the first year it became a constant desire- to not exist. To be dead. The second year, she had met Stephan. A beautiful distraction from all of the pain and anguish she had been holding on to.

And here she was Year Three, alone again. Certainly without a death wish, but alone never the less…


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO.

Everything about the day was unbearable. The sun shone too bright into Elena's eyes, people were too cheery for her down psyche. She didn't smile or laugh once, there was no joy in it… Today was going to be a sombre day for Elena. She was wearing her favourite sweater, not because it was fashionable, but because it brought her a sense of peace. It was one her mother had bought for her. It had become tattered at the hemline, and had shrunk a bit with the hundreds of washes it had been through, but she wore it any ways, like a portable security blanket. It brought her closer to her dead family, and that was something that she needed today. Closeness.

She got out of Jenna's four door sedan, pulled her sweater close to her body, and marched towards the front doors. These halls had become like a scrapbook of memories to her. Some she wanted to forget and others that she revelled in constantly. She remembered the first time she had stepped foot into the Mystic Falls high-school. She had been with her mother she remembered, her hand had held tightly to the crook of her elbow in quivering fear and anticipation. The reverie led her to the gymnasium, which currently was packed full for a volleyball tournament, but at the time, had been vacant as her mother took her on a private tour of the school.

"_And this will be the place where you'll go to assemblies and watch basketball games," Her mother said leading her through the doors, "I was never one for the games myself- I never understood the need for such competition…" They walked through the big and heavy gym doors and out into another vacant hallway._

"_This was where my locker was when I went here… I'm sure now it's been used by an abundance of teenagers, but it will always be mine in a sense. Just like no matter what Elena, you will always be my baby girl."_

Elena found herself standing there at the locker her mother had pointed out. Her mom had been right, the locker had been used by hundreds of kids since it had been hers... Almost six people in the last semester alone. Elena could think of how she watched all the vagrant teenagers defile the one place that would always, no matter what be her mothers. She ran her fingers along the face of the locker, imagining that behind it was her mother's old things.

She missed her mother most of all. Of course she had Jenna but there was still so much different about them. And while Jenna was a fabulous mother figure, she still did not completely fill the void of mother. Elena continued on her way through the halls searching for her friends… But neither Caroline nor Bonnie could be found, and for some reason that troubled Elena_. They knew didn't they, what today was?_

If anyone noticed Elena's clearly depressed posture, no one came to her rescue, no one approached her, and no one offered condolences. No one cared – Why should they? It wasn't like her loss affected their life… She would always be poor Elena Gilbert, that girl whose family went over Wickery Bridge.

She walked towards the Data Management class, it was a mundane class that she could probably do in her sleep, but she needed something, anything, to fill up time. It had been that way since her parents died. She couldn't focus, she found no interest in anything… She gave up cheerleading, she dumped her then boyfriend Matt (whom she replaced relatively quickly with Stephan, but that's beside the point). She was broken in every sense of the word. Maybe her heart was still intact but her spirit was broken, crippled by the pain of human loss.

She remembered all the nights she had spent crying over her parents and her brother, how Jenna had tried to soothe her pain… But Jenna was like her mother in many ways, and being around her had felt like looking at the ghost of her long gone mother. Elena's heart sank- Jenna didn't deserve all the pain and responsibility that had come with Elena, all of the hopes and dreams that Jenna had to leave behind just to take care of someone who wasn't really willing to be taken care of. Elena knew this, or at least she did now. She was trying to change.

Elena heard Bonnie and Caroline before she saw them. They were talking quite animatedly about something that she couldn't quite make out. They were excited, happy- which meant that Elena had been right and they hadn't remembered… She tried not to let the disappointment show on her face as they sat down next to her.

"Hey Elena, do you have plans tonight?" Caroline asked, leaning over towards her. Caroline was a control freak, psychopath who had to have everything planned down to the millimetre or else the world would never hear the last of it. Obviously the school dance was what was in the forefront of her memory because she didn't understand why Elena's response was '_I have plans with Jenna tonight._'

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE** PLANS WITH JENNA?**' Caroline prodded nearly jumping out of her skin at the thought of her friend missing the dance that she had so skillfully planned. All of Mystic Falls High was going to be there, and she couldn't believe that Elena planned on ditching… She berated Elena for five minutes before the bell rang and class began.

Data management was slow- as usual. She really hated sitting and listening to her teacher drone on and on about Pythagoras and his triangle theorem. When was she realistically going to use a triangle in her real life? Probably not ever. Elena had wanted to be a writer… Her mom had instilled that in her, it had been both of their dreams and now without her mother to support her Elena felt as though perhaps that was a dream that was better left for dead than a dream pursued.

She walked back to her locker to get books for her Chemistry class. If she hated Data, she hated Chemistry more. It was the class she shared with Stephan… And even thought the break-up had occurred two months ago, things were still awkward between them.

The Salvatore's had a secret; they were vampires. And at the beginning it had been such a surprise to Elena- shocking, unbelievable… But as time continued on she accepted the crazy reality of it. She accepted them- the supernatural beings, she accepted that Damon had turned her calculated, controlling friend Caroline into a vampire. And perhaps Stephan was afraid that their secret would no longer be safe with her.

She laughed inwardly at that. **Who would she tell?**_** Who would believe her?**_ No one would believe the ramblings of a 17 year old girl claiming that vampires existed. And after everything that had happened she couldn't, and would not bring herself to do that to the Salvatore brothers who had kept her alive for those three years.

She owed it to them in a sense, to keep their secret... But not only that- she knew if she exposed them, that she exposed Caroline and risked having all of their lives poked and prodded which none of them could really afford. Especially not now, not with Caroline's mother on the council- the vampire hunting council.

Bonnie was the safest one and even then she was not safe, her involvement in all of this was critical; but she was a witch, and you could rarely track a witch, or tell which witch cast a certain spell. Only another witch would know, and Bonnie and her grams used to be the only two witches in town. That was until Bonnie's grams had a heart attack and passed away, according to Bonnie it had been trying to complete a spell.

Regularly it was a spell that shouldn't have over-exerted a talented witch like Sheila Bennett, or any Bennett witch for that matter… But the details of the spell remained a secret that Bonnie had opted to keep between her and her grams, and frankly Elena didn't blame her for it.

Elena sat down in the seat next to the window overlooking the courtyard. She loved it there. She could observe everyone, watching them run to their classes or sit and eat their lunch… She enjoyed watching people enjoy their humanity in the way she wished she could enjoy hers.

Stephan walked in briskly and sat at the back of the class. He'd been doing that for the past two months- avoiding her, not speaking to her. Observing her from afar like some protective overseer, and Elena wondered why. She didn't bother to ask because every time she would approach him to confront him about it, he would bolt in his typical vampire fashion.

She'd stopped trying, and in all honesty as long as he wasn't trying to interfere with her life then she didn't care. It was crazy how much Elena had stopped caring about what he thought of her… Before it had always been about appearing to be some helpless damsel in Stephan's eyes, but even the damsels grow up, and that's what Elena had done. And Stephan didn't like it. Stephan hated the idea that she contemplated becoming a vampire; and that made her question his motives. Why would he want her to remain in her human frailty?

A constant target on her back, for some reason being attacked by random vampires wasn't enough to make Stephan want to turn her. Damon had been willing, in fact something told her that Damon was more wanting than willing. There was always more to the story than the two brothers had let on but she no longer cared… Caring got her hurt and she wasn't willing to hurt for anyone but her family and friends- not anymore.

Lunch came quickly, and she met up with Caroline and Bonnie in the cafeteria. They sat and chatted about everything and nothing; Caroline having realized, and apologized for her insensitivity and forgetfulness towards the day at hand.

Elena didn't mind, she understood that even in her frozen vampire state, Caroline's life still went on. Her responsibilities continued to pile up, and her knack for perfectionism had only intensified as a vampire. Putting her constantly on edge if things should turn out even the slightest bit wrong – which left little time for reminiscing on a time when she was still human.

Bonnie had offered to accompany Elena and Jenna, if it would have made things easier, but Elena brushed her off; knowing that Bonnie wasn't offering because she wanted to go, but more as a formality. And Elena couldn't force her friend to go to some creepy cemetery for her. Elena spent a lot of time in the cemetery, which is how she knew it was so creepy… She found herself sitting across from the three graves quite often, talking to Jeremy about sports and goings on at school, and telling her parents about what seemingly miraculous things she had learned.

Elena knew her way around the cemetery quite well, almost too well. And that fact would show if Bonnie were to accompany her and Jenna. Jenna knew, and in many ways understood Elena's affinity towards the burial ground of her family, feeling the same instinctual draw to it in the early months.

Jenna understood- and that's who Elena needed to accompany her tonight.

Lunch ended with a painfully loud bell, and Caroline and Bonnie left Elena and headed off to class. The guidance counsellor had suggested that Elena take a few periods off in order to de-stress and remain level headed – and so naturally this meant she either sat outside in the courtyard, or roamed the halls. Today she decided to roam. She walked past the library, and poster-boards, she walked through the gymnasium and the foyer, she walked down the hallway to her locker, where she grabbed her journal and her favourite ballpoint pen.

She walked back to the foyer, and sat on a bench where she could watch people walk by. She flipped to the second half of the journal, moving her place marker to the side, and began to write. She used to write "_Dear Diary,"_ but as of late she had begun with "_Dear Mom."_ She didn't really know why, but something about it seemed natural to her, explaining things to her mom instead of an inanimate object like her journal.

She told her mom about what today was, the three year anniversary. She explained how she was wearing the sweater that she had bought, and how it was beginning to fall apart at the seams. She told her mother all of it through the pages of her journal- She expressed all the fear and loneliness and anguish. She poured it out, bared her soul, explaining that she was in massive need of a connection, a real connection to someone, or something that could make her see the joy in living again… She wrote and she wrote until all the words that had needed to be said were down on the pages.

She closed her journal and sat… and watched. She watched students leaving class to go to the washroom, or get a drink, or more often than not; to just fool around in the hallways. She watched for about twenty minutes, until an announcement chimed over the intercom.

"**All students with a free period right now, please make your way to the office to receive your midterm report cards. "**

Elena got up, and made her way to the office. It was a large room that she hadn't spent a lot of time in, but she'd spent enough. She had sat here waiting while Jenna had argued on her behalf to be exempt from exams following her family's death. It had been a long winded argument, but Jenna had won out.

She took the same seat that she had taken then, and plopped down, waiting for the secretary to return with a neatly folded stack of report cards. The seat was still uncomfortable the back of the chair was too straight, and her lower back began to hurt almost instantly. She closed her eyes and reached behind her to apply pressure in order to alleviate some of the pain. She was too engulfed with massaging her own back that she missed when another person sat in the chair beside her.

"I've always hated waiting for people…" The voice said causing Elena's eyes to spring open. She turned momentarily and her eyes met the owner of the most melodious voice she had ever heard… Her heart almost stopped when the beautiful blonde flashed her a quick smile.

"I'm Rebekah," The girl said stretching out her hand. She had a wonderful Australian accent and it took Elena by surprise. Nobody with cool accents ever came to Mystic Falls. "I'm new here obviously, I've literally just registered and it feels like I am signing my life over." Elena took her hand and shook it confidently.

"My name is Elena, nice to meet you Rebekah." Elena divulged and released Rebekah's hand after having held it for a few seconds too long. Something about this girl stirred something inside her, and she couldn't figure out what. The secretary chose that moment exactly to return, and she saw Elena the smile that had been plastered on her face was replaced with a solemn gaze.

"Ah, Ms. Gilbert, I assume you're here for your midterm report?" She asked as Elena stood up and approached the counter. She nodded, and the secretary began filing through each set of reports in alphabetical order until she reached G. "And here you are dear." She said pulling out Elena's report card and handing it to her.

Elena took the report card, and looked it over. She read and re-read her marks, _how was this possible_? She had a better average now than she had ever had in her life. She stood rooted like a stone, she couldn't move it felt like… Her heart was beating a thousand times per second, and she was starting to feel light headed.

Then she remembered to breathe. And her head started feeling its usual heaviness again, and her heart rate returned to normal. She looked over at Rebekah who looked a little perplexed at her reaction, Elena took in two great big lungful's of air an exhaled.

"You know Rebekah, you're right- you are signing your life over; to a world of misery and pending disappointment." Elena said opening the door to the foyer, "There's a great big world out there and you're settling for this." She walked out and was more than halfway to her locker when she heard a newly familiar Australian accent call after her down the hall.

"_Elena wait_!" Rebekah's voice called, as she came jogging down the hall, Elena felt the hand on her shoulder and turned, and she looked into the eyes of the strange new girl. They were a mesmerising shade of blue. "Why don't you show me around?"

And even though Elena wanted to protest, and say no and continue her day of near solitude; every fibre of her being required her to do the opposite- and she agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

(Rebekah's point of view)

Rebekah fumbled with her golden locks as Elena showed her the school. She really did hate to compel the girl to show her around. Rebekah had honestly hoped that after her polite introduction and flirtatious behaviour that this delightfully interesting creature would _offer_ to give her a tour. Something about this generation was so self-centred and self-absorbed, and she hardly had enough time to deal with it.

They walked around the school, Elena showing her the places where her and her friends liked to sit, the gymnasium, the library, the music room, the art room and the science labs. The truth was Rebekah cared little for the polite introduction to the school

She was honestly more interested in this girl, Elena. So unaware of her potential, so unaware of everything she could accomplish. Yet so unbelievably mesmerising that it took all of Rebekah's resolve to pull her eyes away from her lips. She looked so much like her… Like _Katherine_. But she was much gentler, much more subdued; and it suited her features well… _THEIR_ features well. Rebekah couldn't bother with the distinction, they were all the same to her.

Correction, they had all seemed the same to her, but this one was different.

**This** doppelganger had hopes, and dreams that spread far beyond this town, beyond Mystic Falls. Why did everything horrid begin in this place? It was wretched and it cast such an ominous feeling. But then again Rebekah had just spent almost a hundred years in a box; a hundred year slumber riddled with nightmares and dreams, but mostly nightmares.

Klaus needed to placate her unbridled desire to rip his heart out through his ass. He used to be such a good brother… Such a caring, considerate brother. Charming really, with his odd lopsided smile. Too charming. Charming to the point where the thought of him driving an ash tipped dagger through her heart, had made it break a little bit.

Niklaus had always been her favourite brother… He was always so isolated from the five, always labelled the '_Half-breed'_ and Rebekah knew how much that had haunted him. The poor soul that he was, always to be an outcast, separated from the rest of them. Rebekah never said it, but she too had also felt an indignant sense of distance between her and the rest of her brothers. She was the only girl of course.

And as such, many of the issues that plagued her in her human life followed her into her immortal one. Like her need to be loved, her inevitable miscalculation when it came to the demanding and yet fleeting hearts of men. It had taken her almost a thousand years to figure out her problem: _**MEN**_.

Rebekah turned to Elena and asked her if she could walk her to her locker, and Elena happily obliged. Elena took the piece of paper with a neatly scrawled _1347_ on it, and began her march through the school. They treaded through the gymnasium, which looked like it had been stampeded through. Elena made small talk, although Rebekah could sense that there was something on Elena's mind that she wasn't saying… They stopped in front of locker 1347 and Elena went rigid.

"Elena, I know we've only just met," Rebekah began, "But I do pick up on involuntary subtleties in your demeanor that suggests that something is awry." She reached out and laid a hand on Elena's stiff shoulder, only to have the rigid girl retreat further…

"Elena," She said turning the girl to face her, "Tell me what's wrong." Rebekah's eyes bore into Elena's causing every hair on her arms to stand on end. Compelling humans was something Rebekah had to get back into the swing of, she hadn't been doing it for a hundred years. But Rebekah didn't have to compel Elena to explain as the girl burst into tears.

"This was my mother's locker." Elena blubbered through sobs. '_Shit'_, Rebekah thought inwardly, '_Now I've got a crying teenage girl…'_ Rebekah didn't really know what to do. Human emotion didn't evade her, no. She felt, and understood many human emotions, she just wasn't sure which one she was supposed to be seeing here… Elena's body sank down to the floor so she was sitting in a half-kneel position on the floor.

She was a mess honestly. Rebekah crouched down next to her, and rubbed her fingertips on her back in a slow circular motion, willing the tears to stop flowing from Elena's eyes. She hated this part of being human… The inability to stop feeling whenever she saw fit, Rebekah relished in that ability now.

"Today is three years, since my family drove over Wickery Bridge…" Elena mumbled quietly once the tears had dissipated. Rebekah felt a familiar twinge in her own heart. She knew this pain, she knew it in multitudes far greater than this human could fathom.

"I lost my mum too." Rebekah said getting a little bit closer, wrapping her arm around Elena's shoulder. "It's hard growing up without one, adjusting to life- accepting death," Rebekah said, knowing that Elena wouldn't suspect that it was literal, "But you have to move on, and accept what has happened." Rebekah said resting her chin on the top of Elena's head. Rebekah lashed herself inwardly, it was over a thousand years since she had been turned and she **still** hadn't moved on, or accepted her mother's death; and here she was telling this human to get over it all in three…

"It's all hard, life is just hard." Elena whimpered and curled more into her. Rebekah breathed in the scent of Elena's shampoo, she felt her eyes darken as her nose smelt her humanity. Elena's pulse sent a radiating desire through Rebekah, and it took almost all of her willpower not to lean her head down and bite ever so gently into the unsuspecting girl's jugular. It honestly was of no concern to her that they were in the middle of a school hallway where anyone could see them.

But she restrained herself. She had to find a balance of self-control and self-indulgence, and feeding on a sobbing girl in the middle of her school's hallway was not at all subtle. Nor was it in the realm of exercising self-control. There was a time for self-indulgence, but now was not it.

She helped Elena to her feet, and led her down the hallway, back to the foyer and into the office. Rebekah sat her down in the same chair where they had just been not only an hour before. She approached the secretary, made deliberate eye contact and stated with an authoritative air:

"Call Elena's guardian, say that today was too much for her- and that it is in her best interest to go home now." Rebekah ordered, and almost instantly the secretary picked up the phone. Rebekah turned back to her sobbing companion, and sat next to her as the secretary recited her lines perfectly.

"Now Elena," Rebekah began tilting the brunettes head up, "Now look at me, common sweetheart…" Elena tried to wipe away her tears before she allowed her eyes to meet Rebekah's. There was something so alluring about this humans brown eyes… Like milk chocolate that you could just reach out and drown in. Rebekah chuckled, if she had to choose a way to die, death by drowning in chocolate would be it.

"You have to be brave, I know it hurts- but I promise, if it's the last thing I ever do… It will be alright." Rebekah offered, thinking about how long her own grief at the loss of her mother had lasted. And that was just her mother. Elena had lost so much more, hadn't she? Rebekah still had her brothers, Elena had no one. "It might not seem like it now, it might not seem like it for a long while, but I promise you, everything will be alright in the end." The words came out so detached from Rebekah's mouth…

_If only she could believe her own words._

At that moment, a woman who looked to be in her late 20's early 30's walked in, and ran straight to Elena's side. Elena instinctively wrapped her arms around this woman and sobbed breathlessly into the nape of her neck. Reluctantly the woman disentangled Elena's arms from around her neck where they were clinging like a noose, and walked over to the counter where the secretary was. The woman whispered, unknowing that Rebekah could hear every word.

"I told the principal today that this would be too much stress for her…" She whispered heatedly, Rebekah was glad Elena had someone like this as her guardian; Opinionated and to a certain degree ruthless. "I don't care what he says, she needs mental-health days – damn, half this school needs a mental-health day." She finished signing her name next to the title of _Guardian_ on the sign out sheet, walked over to Elena, and slung her one arm over her shoulders and prepared to hoist her out of the seat.

Rebekah watched with a bemused smirk. Humans with their preconceived notions of strength. Rebekah stood up and tapped the woman on the shoulder,

"You're really going to throw out your back if you try to lift her like that. May I?" Rebekah had interjected, sliding in to position in front of Elena's now shaking form. She bent her knees and snaked her arm underneath Elena's legs, and used her other hand to hold her in position. She lifted with her legs, knowing full well that she could have tossed Elena around like a ragdoll- But she was pretending to be human after all, and so she put on a show for Elena's guardian.

She carried Elena out to the blue Honda which sat idling in front of the school. All these small town-ers never thinking about taking the keys out of the ignition… In New York, it would have been gone faster than you could say "_Don't steal my car!"_ Elena's guardian opened the door, and Rebekah set her down in the passenger seat gently, leading over her body to buckle the seat belt. If she hadn't been so close to the girl she might have missed it, the sound of the exhausted '_thank you'_ that left Elena's mouth as she pulled away.

"It's no problem sweetheart, and remember it'll be okay… You've just got to believe it will be." Rebekah said placing a chaste kiss on the top of Elena's head, "Now go home and rest, I'll see you tomorrow." And with that Rebekah shut the door and turned to walk back into the school.

"Thank you," Elena's guardian said. It was a wary tone, but thankful never the less. "Days like today are hard for her, she just doesn't want anyone else to suffer because she's in pain." The woman spoke. There was no need for it. Rebekah understood exactly what Elena was going through, there didn't need to be an explanation.

"In times of great loss, it is always wise to develop kinships with those who understand the current state you're in," Rebekah began, relief setting in on the woman's face. "Elena and I are akin in this, the sense of loss. She has someone to look out for her, she has you, and her friends-" _and me,_ she wanted desperately to add, but refrained. "You need to find someone who can look out for you. Teenagers are no easy task." Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and marched herself back into the school, back into the office.

She stood at the counter momentarily and looked at the sign out sheet. Next to Elena's name, under the title guardian was the name _Jenna Sommers_ scrawled neatly inside the box. Rebekah wondered how Jenna fit into the equation… She leaned over the counter and got the attention of the secretary, she looked hard into her eyes, willing this woman to do as she said, and ordered;

"Tell me everything you know about the Gilberts." – and that's exactly what the secretary did.


	4. Chapter 4

Rebekah laid in bed that night, thinking about all the information she had gathered. Elena was a complete mystery to her; perhaps not in the literal sense… Rebekah now knew everything about her… She knew all about her parents and Wickery Bridge, how it was Elena's fault they were even out driving in the first place. She learned about Jenna Sommers, the sister to the mother who Elena had lost, who was just about to turn 30, who had assumed such responsibility over the young girl… She was astounded at the strength of this girl, and her guardian.

'_It must have something to do with the Petrova bloodline'_ Rebekah thought pensively to herself. So much about this girl reminded her of her beloved Katherine. She hated that term… _**beloved**_. It felt like her tongue wrapped around her heartstrings every time the word even presented itself to her thoughts.

It was like a quick jab of a blade into her abdomen, like a wooden steak being driven full kilter into her chest, and being twisted slightly. _Beloved_ wasn't the right word to use in context of Katherine Petrova... Katherine was not her beloved, she had been Elijah's beloved. She had hated that girl for tearing her most intellectual brother away from her.

Katherine Petrova had been the most annoying brat of a human, and she made an even more annoying vampire. Constantly sticking her unbelievably annoying nose where it didn't belong, ruining plans that had taken decades of planning and for what? Just to get back at her, Rebekah Mikaelson.

"_What is happening to me?" Katherine asked having just been stabbed, and her neck broken. Rebekah could feel the faint pulse quicken as an unfathomable wave of unease sank into Katherine's bones. Rebekah stood there and laughed at her. It was quite a sight to behold, the transformation that was unfolding._

"_Well I figured since you have such an affinity for our kind, that you might as well become one!" Rebekah jested, leaning down to the restrained figure. She loved to see her squirm against the vervained ropes that had her bound to the chair. Something so, dare she say, erotic about the struggle between allowing oneself to remain restrained; or fighting to become free. _

"_**Your**__**kind?**__ What is that to even mean?" The poor form twisted at the ropes but to no avail, each time the ropes dug in to Katherine's skin, the vervain burned her flesh. Rebekah didn't usually like to torture new vampires… No in fact for the majority of it, she enjoyed leading them to their first kill, teaching them how to hunt, and feed. Perhaps it was a greater mothering instinct she possessed- one she would never be able to use. _

"_Don't speak to me as if you don't know precious Katherine! As if Elijah hasn't told you!" Rebekah spat, turning towards the door of the little shack which they were currently in. It wasn't a palace, but for this; it would do. She reached the door and opened it a crack._

"_It is quite a beautiful day!" Rebekah said in mock surprise and joy, and with one swift flick of her wrist the door flew open. Engulfing Katherine Petrova's entire body in sunlight. The sun ripped at her flesh, burning her. And Rebekah just laughed, and shut the door._

"_Sunlight tends to be a vampire's biggest problem. The biggest tell that we have… It's painful- and if you're out in it for too long: fatal." Rebekah chimed once Katherine's sobs had finally subsided. The girl looked terrified, perhaps she feared the coming of her second death, as she should. Rebekah was not known to be merciful when it came to torturing her prisoners to death._

"_V-vampires?" Katherine sputtered feverishly, the look of terror had not been for a death she had been expecting- but more for an eternity she had not._

Rebekah snapped back to the present. Vampires rarely found the need to sleep, often just drifting into "memory-revisitation". That's what Rebekah called it. When she laid down, and remained still for long enough, she could recall any memory she wanted; every moment she had ever experienced, she could recall, and relive. She reflected on this memory often- The night she had created the insufferable nuisance that was Katherine Petrova.

Dawn was quickly approaching, but Rebekah knew she had enough time to revisit one more memory before the beginning of the new day. This one quite a bit newer, and right at the forefront of her current memory staple.

_ Rebekah sat in the courtyard and listened to Elena's sweet voice. She looked so much like Katherine, but she was not at all like her at the same time. Their voices were different even… Katherine's much harsher, and Elena's melodious and graceful. Rebekah listened to her talk, not necessarily to what she was saying of course, but to the way her breath was slipping past her lips._

_ The sunlight shone off her brown hair, bringing out all the natural highlights and lowlights, and the different individual hairs that Rebekah could see with such clarity. This doppelganger, was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen; And it scared her a bit. To find perfection and beauty in someone who looked the exact same as someone she hated._

_ Rebekah revelled in the humanity this girl possessed. The way her heart beat, her blood pumped, her eyes blinked. Everything about her seemed so much more than it truly was. Rebekah reached out and caressed her caramel singed skin, feeling how soft it was. She delighted in the pinkish tinge that surfaced against the cheeks. Her thumb stretched out, and traced the bottom lip of this girl._

"_You're beautiful." Rebekah had whispered barely audible, looking into Elena's face. The eyes were the same as Katherine's, but these possessed a compassion, and warmth and love that was forever going to be missing from Katherine's. Rebekah dropped her hand, and cleared her throat._

"_Shall we continue the tour then?"_

Rebekah knew this was a memory that she was going to revisit many times over her life. In all of her years, which there were over a thousand of, no one had ever made her feel human before… But in that moment, with the one and only Elena Gilbert, she had felt it. _Human_. A feeling that she had been missing for quite some time. Why this girl, and why now?

She didn't have time to ponder all the complexities, she really had to get up and get herself moving. She wanted to dress to impress because today was her first official day, and it was germane that she made a good impression on Elena and her friends. She settled for jeans and a flowing floral top. She wasn't really sure what the trends for this decade were, but if this wasn't it, she would compel someone of status to think that it was.

She just needed Elena to notice her, to recognize her… something- ANYTHING. She just wanted her attention, all of it. Undivided. Rebekah knew that even an ounce of Elena's attention was going to be a far-cry due to her "new" status. She wondered if things ever changed… If the social constructs were still the same as they always had been. Did mystery still win out over majesty?

She got into her car and drove the winding road to town, crossing over the Wickery Bridge, and making her way further into town. She had a new-found curiosity about this bridge… She didn't know whether she hated it, or loved it. On one hand it had robbed Elena of her parents, and on the other, created the person that Rebekah had become so fond of. The battle between the two consumed her until she reached the parking lot of Mystic Falls High School.

"_Well here we go."_ She said taking a deep breath, letting the warm sun cascade over her body as she almost marched confidently through the front doors. Today was her day- Hell, _every day_ was her day.

This was the mantra she repeated to herself inwardly while weaving through the halls that were full of teenagers. Living, breathing teenagers. Rebekah almost broke, the sounds of delicious warm blood flowing through the hundreds of bodies around her was driving her mad. She felt thirst, hunger. She was so hungry, and it would be quite simple to follow a girl into a bathroom and get her fill- and for a split second she watched a solitary girl who nobody but her noticed dart inside the restroom.

She seized the opportunity slipping in to the washroom silently behind her. She waited for the girl to exit the stall, Rebekah grabbed the girl by the arm and held her ferociously against the wall. She looked this girl deep in the eyes and held her gaze.

"You will not scream, you will not remember any of this." Rebekah ordered, and the girl simply shut her mouth, and nodded. Rebekah sunk her teeth down into this girl's jugular, drinking her blood. She was awash with the small high she received, feeling tendons and muscles throb beneath her teeth as liquid humanity rolled down her throat.

It only took a few minutes of this for Rebekah's hunger to be satisfied, and she released the girl from her mouth. She looked into her eyes again, "If anyone asks that mark is from your dog, he attacked you this morning." Rebekah said leaning over to the sink, and dampening a paper towel. She placed the moist paper to the girl's neck, cleaning up her mess. Rebekah tidied her up, and made her look presentable.

"Say good things about me when people ask, tell them that I was incredibly interesting and a joy to talk with, understood?" Rebekah ordered, looking this girl dead in the eyes. The girl nodded, and with that Rebekah released her from the washroom, and rinsed her mouth out with water. Once all the blood was gone from her mouth, she herself left the bathroom.

She walked to her locker, the smell of live people doing nothing to her now. She stopped, and opened the locker and placed her bag in it. Today was going a whole lot smoother than she had anticipated. She grabbed her Data Management textbook, and made her way towards the class. She sat down at the edge of the class, she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself, not unless the attention was Elena's.

The bell rang, and the class promptly began to fill up. No one sat close to her though, which she was okay with. That was until Elena huffed into the room, made her way towards the seat where Rebekah was sitting: not having realized that there was someone there, and having to quickly make a beeline for the seat next to it. Once Elena sat, Rebekah leaned over, and quietly said,

"I'm sorry if this is your seat, I could always move?" She offered, not having realized that she was stepping on the toes of someone she wanted nothing more to be close with. Elena smiled a brilliant smile.

"No it's alright. The seat is lucky to have you!" Elena said dismissing the whole thing with a giggle and a flick of her hair. "Plus it's the least I could do after what you did for me yesterday." She finished just as the teacher walked in. Their conversation was put drastically on hold as the teacher began to discuss _outliers_ and _lines of best fit_. Rebekah submerged herself in taking notes; She might be smart, but she had missed out on 500 years of education, and she had a feeling that was going to show if she didn't keep up.

And keep up she did.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

[Elena's Point Of View]

Usually Elena would have found it incredibly annoying to find someone sitting in her seat, but not when Rebekah did it. Usually Elena found floral tops annoying, but something about it on Rebekah made it seem fitting, attractive even. She was so inexplicably drawn to this girl. This strange, beautiful and yet somehow subconsciously mysterious woman who sat next to her.

Elena could barely focus on the class, as her attention was constantly being taken by the blonde beside her. Rebekah was still a stranger, and yet there was so much about her that drew Elena in, and captured her attention.

She doodled in her textbook when she wasn't staring at Rebekah. Mostly birds and butterflies, and flowers… Typical stuff that girls draw. She looked up at the board; noticing graphs and notes that were barely legible. There was no way that she could start copying the note now that she had signed out for fifty percent of it. There would be no way. Elena sighed, and resumed her doodling. She observed Rebekah taking notes excitedly, and thoroughly. Who was this girl, and why did she even care?

Something within Elena wanted to reach out to this new girl. This girl who had been so kind to her even though she didn't know her. The girl who had spent time with her, and made friends with her. Elena had never had such an instantaneous connection with someone before. It was like they were two opposite magnets, drawn to each other, made solely for the purpose of connecting to one another.

Elena couldn't explain it… The words didn't exist to explain the draw she had to this girl. It was a feeling so foreign to her, and she had never experienced anything like it before. There was nothing parallel or even adjacent feeling that she could ever recall having felt.

Bonnie and Caroline tried to get Elena's attention- desperately. But she was far too engrossed in her examination of the wonderful specimen that was Rebekah. They would talk, and she would simply not listen off in her own little world.

Was it possible to become enamoured with someone over night? Elena couldn't tell- but something about this draw, it felt like more… It felt unresolved somehow. Like there was to be more to the story but there were no more words. She suddenly felt unsatisfied with herself.

'_I am the damn author to this story, and I will write it however I see fit.'_ She thought to herself, thinking of how she wanted things to play out. '_How do I want our story to play out?'_ Elena asked herself, her eyes trained onto the beautiful mane of blonde. Perhaps it was a bit presumptuous of her to say it was _**their**_ story. Was it even a story really, so much as a fantasy she was allowing herself to explore? She didn't have time to ponder it as the bell rang, which sent a hurricane of students whirling and whizzing past. Elena knew her next class was only two doors over and so she preferred to take her time.

Once all the ruckus had passed and the smoke of the stampede that was the student body had lifted, she noticed just Rebekah left in the room with her. She could feel her leg start to twitch, a nervous tick she had. Why was she so nervous? It wasn't like Rebekah was exponentially closer to her than normal, or anything out of the ordinary really… It was more perhaps that they were alone, that's what made her nervous.

She was nervous, not because of Rebekah, but of herself. What if she said something stupid, or worse, what if she acted on her impulses and the end result was not one she desired. It was Elena's selfish worry that had her tick acting up. Elena stood there, and admired the girl's arms as they moved the books from the desk, and put them in her bag.

"Are you going to speak, or simply watch me in silence?" Rebekah offered, breaking the ice for them. Elena smiled as the soft melody of Rebekah's chuckle hit her ears. "I pray to God it's the first option because the second is quite frankly creepy." Elena laughed at that.

"No one has ever called me creepy so openly before!" Elena said, laughing even harder, imagining anyone feeling that_ creepy_ was an accurate description of who she was. They stood looking at each other for a while. Elena sized this girl up: her hair, clothes, eyes, lips. Everything about her seemed so… perfect. She knew it was a cliché to even describe it like that but it was true.

"Perhaps if they paid a little more attention they would do well to begin?" Rebekah questioned, looking at Elena warily. Elena could sense that this was potentially more-so awkward for Rebekah than it was for her.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so…." Elena trailed off, unsure of what she was looking for: weird? Creepy? Annoying? Clingy? Obsessed? Which one fit their predicament best, she didn't know.

"Masculine in your appreciation of my existence?" Rebekah coined at her, a smug smile crossing her face. Elena felt herself blush, it was an accurate description. She didn't mean to be so 'ogley'. They began to walk down the hall to the Biology class. Elena was positively captured by this girl, she hung onto every word, remembering the tone, and the way the accent seemed so fitting.

"I don't mean to come off as lecherous," Elena began, offering some sort of explanation, "I just- You're so beautiful." Elena finished, the deep red blush beginning on her chest, and flaming out across her face. She could feel the heat radiating off of her body now, the once nicely caramel skin, now looking red, almost sunburnt. She couldn't believe she had said those words out loud. Let alone in a hallway where it could have been overheard by anyone. The momentary realization caused Elena to look around, stricken by the idea that someone could have overheard.

"There is no one around, to have heard your endearing admission." Rebekah chortled wrapping an arm around Elena protectively. Elena didn't protest, she actually liked the familiarity with which Rebekah embraced her. It felt safe. Something she hadn't allowed herself to feel; but something about this, this connection, was palpable.

She could feel it stirring within her, the desire for this connection- and this one alone. It had this eerie depth that she didn't quite comprehend, and yet regardless something about the feelings spurred her on.

"Well, thank God for that." She said as they rounded the final hallway. Elena became pensive- delving into memories of every person she had ever been romantic with, and yet none of those connections had ever felt quite like this; not even close. There was always something integral missing from it but she could never quite tell what.

"Well this is my class, thank you for walking me." Rebekah said, giving her a slight curtsey as she turned to make her way into the classroom. It took Elena's mind 5.6 seconds to rationalize what she was about to do.

"Would you like to go out sometime?" Elena sputtered just as Rebekah's hand reached the door knob. Elena could feel her heart beat go ballistic, threatening to explode her eardrums. "As friends- obviously." Elena added, knowing full-well she didn't mean it. Or did she? Perhaps she wanted to mean it. It wasn't right to feel this way about someone she just met… Let alone a woman.

Elena was so engrossed in her own internal war that she almost missed when Rebekah responded. But the only thing stronger than her inability to remain focused was her draw to Rebekah- which brought her back just in time to catch Rebekah's response.

"Whatever we go out as, I'm sure that spending time with you would be a privilege."

Elena blushed again. Was it possible that maybe she felt the same way? _'No. Don't be ridiculous Elena. What could she possibly see in you? And what feelings, you don't even know what you feel.'_ Her inner voice questioned. Elena didn't realize that she had been holding her breath until she had to force herself to breathe.

"What about tomorrow night?" Elena offered, not expecting a committal response- looking down at her feet. Her leg started twitching again; she was nervous.

"Yes absolutely, where and when?" Rebekah asked politely, a faint smile tinting the corners of her mouth. The flash of perfect white teeth made Elena's knees go weak, but only for a moment before she regained control over her limbs.

"The Grille, say seven-thirty?" Elena said, feeling her own body temperature rise. Rebekah gave a nod, and finally twisted the doorknob to the classroom, stepping in. She flashed Elena a quick smile through the glass- and turned to find her seat.

It took Elena a few seconds before she realized where she was… On the wrong side of the school. Her classroom was in the other wing- she panicked momentarily, before she composed herself, and began a full-sprint to her Chemistry class.

She opened the door and stepped into the class just as the bell rang- signaling the beginning of period two. She sighed heavily as she thanked whatever merciful higher power existed that she had been on time.

"Thank you for joining us, now if you would please find a seat." The substitute teacher impatiently tapped his foot waiting for Elena to maneuver herself to her seat. He waited until she had been sitting. Elena noted his facial structure, she supposed he was attractive, but still- no pull like the one she felt with Rebekah.

"My name is Alaric Saltzman. I will be your new Chemistry, as well as History teacher. Apparently your school now finds itself understaffed with the absence of the teacher who I replaced." He spoke. He had such an authoritative air to him, it was off-putting to Elena.

"You will do well to show up to my classes on time," His gaze bore in to Elena- she could feel it… "And be prepared." He walked around the room, and the more excited students were more than happy to fill him in on what they had already learned. Elena knew from past experiences that anyone who conveniently showed up to mystic falls right when they appeared to be needed, was not to be trusted.

"Alright. Well…" He began, clearing his throat. "The aim of my job as a teacher is to get you interested in the subject while simultaneously feeding you information." He got up and clapped his hands. "Today in fact- were going to do a bit of baking." He said matter-of-factly as he threw his messenger bag over his left arm, and ushered everyone out of the classroom.

They walked to the cafeteria which had seven beautiful and tall glass windows. As they walked past they could see the class outside, looking at grass. For a moment Elena thought that the entire image was ludicrous, that was, until she saw Rebekah sitting out there, fiddling with grass between her fingertips.

Elena stared. She wasn't even bothering to try and shield it from anyone. And while she watched silently as the blonde let blade after blade after blade slip through her fingers, she looked up. Their eyes met for a brief second, and Rebekah looked away with a brilliant smile plastered to her lips. Elena felt the tell-tale heat of a blush flaming against her skin.

They made eye contact again, and smiled at each other. Elena waved and then nonchalantly turned to go into the kitchen part of the cafeteria. As she turned she was put face to face with Stephan, and that was a face she could do a while without seeing.

"So you and the new girl are really hitting it off!" he chided, poking her. He hadn't interacted with her in months, and now he just decided to come and make a play at her? She wasn't having it. Not with him, not today, and not when the topic was Rebekah.

"And so what if she and I are hitting it off? It's none of your business Stephan." Elena rebutted- quite satisfied at the momentary look of trepidation that crossed his features. "I'm not yours to chase after, or monitor- I am not a small child in need of protecting. I can handle myself- and if you don't back down, and butt out, I will not hesitate to bring you to your knees." She whispered vehemently, but barely audible for anyone else to hear. She turned on her heel and walked into the kitchen with a smile on her face, leaving a dumbstruck Stephan Salvatore in her wake.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Rebekah sat in her biology class with a shit-eating grin on her face. Something about the whole encounter with Elena had put her in an oddly happy mood. She loved how bumbling and baffling and dare she say; awkward Elena had become. It was oddly endearing. Rebekah thought about the situation, and was glad at the direction it had taken. Albeit she was a little bit surprised that Elena had taken the initiative.

Rebekah was used to being the one who had to woo and take the leap of faith required for things like this, but she was glad that the connection didn't appear to be one sided. _'I wonder if it feels the same for her…' _Rebekah thought, listening to the teacher speak, about how they were going out into the courtyard to examine the living creatures out there, and that everyone had to bring back something to class to examine under the microscopes.

As the class walked down the east wing of the school, she smiled silently to herself. She recounted happily about the way Elena's heartbeat had sped up in the hallway, and had become so loud that it seemed like it may explode from her chest. There were the obvious benefits to being an immortal blood sucking demon- one being able to smell insanely well, not only that but consciously separate smells. Elena's smell filled her nostrils. It was such an easy scent to pick up, it made sense Rebekah guessed, Elena _**had**_ been walking these halls for three years- it was only logical that her scent would be easily recognized.

Once in the yard, some of Rebekah's classmates stood at the trees, others looked at birds flying overhead, or perched on the roof. Rebekah sat, and looked at the grass. She looked at how tiny all the individual blades were. It brought a slight pang of sadness to her… That something so small was a living thing, something so insignificant was alive; but that she would never be. She felt like a dejected Pinocchio- wanting to be a real, _live_ person.

'_How is this fair? How can grass be trampled, and drowned, and cut but still stay alive? When I was once alive, but now I am dead- and yet here I stand; stronger and in many instances better than the living version.' _Rebekah battled with herself in her own mind, while subconsciously ripping up handfuls of grass. She looked at the green blades in her hands, remarking that they too were dead, like her. If she could have willed herself to cry, then would have been the moment. _'That's how quickly life can be taken away from you.' _ She mused, ripping up another handful of grass.

She opened her fingers wide, as a slow but steady breeze blew through the courtyard, sending blades of grass falling, but then soaring up towards the windows of the cafeteria. Rebekah watched them float, almost like tiny green feathers of the earth. As her eyes followed the path of one blade in particular, her eyes focused on a figure just behind the glass. There was a slight glare, but Rebekah could tell that it was Elena. Their eyes met; and Rebekah remembered there date for the next night and smiled to herself.

She looked up again intending to see Elena having walked off, but she remained- Rebekah had never felt like a bug under a microscope before, but this was cutting it close. She wondered if Elena always surveyed everyone, or if it was simply her today. Something about the idea of Elena looking so intently at anyone else, set off a small riot of anger within Rebekah's stomach.

Elena waved at her, a gesture that Rebekah gladly returned. She watched as a newly content Elena attempted to march off- but get into a heated, yet surprisingly short, argument with someone from her class. Rebekah wanted to rush inside to be sure that Elena was okay, but part of her knew better.

Rebekah chuckled to herself, picking one singular blade of grass, and taking it back to the lab.

Once they got back to class and set up microscopes, they examined what everyone brought back, some had brought leaves, rocks, sand just plain old dirt, a few brought back feathers from the birds, but Rebekah was the only one who brought a blade of grass. They set up the microscopes, and looked through them all. Everyone enjoyed looking at the sparkling rocks, and the veiny leaves, and the rough sand, and moist dirt; but no one paid much mind to the blade of grass.

"Now why did you pick what you did?" The teacher asked, going row by row- until he reached Rebekah who was the last person in the last row. She thought nervously for a moment- unsure of what to answer.

"I chose a single blade of grass because in many ways it represents us, humans." She spoke confidently and sure of her answer. People were looking at her as if she were crazy- she wasn't.

"And pray- tell how do you find parallels between grass and people?" The teacher asked, and air of questioning settling into the class.

"Because-"Rebekah began, clearing her throat. "We are a large populace, so large in fact, that if you gathered all of the human species together in one area, we would look much like the court yard. Undistinguishable from one another, just a sea of green- a sea of living creatures. That's what we would be. But if you were to pluck one, or two of five hundred of those measly little blades of grass would anyone really notice?" Rebekah offered, looking at anyone for confirmation that she had made her point. Her palm collided with her forehead, as she explained again, in perhaps simpler terms.

"We become part of a collective whole. Like looking at the grass; you just see grass. You don't see individual blades unless you look close enough. Just like in large gatherings we lose our own sense of individuality- we assimilate to the whole. Nobody would really miss us; not in a way that would have any effect really. Just like nobody will miss this blade of grass." Rebekah finished, the biology teacher smiled brightly at her.

"Well done Rebekah," the teacher began. Now Rebekah could feel all the eyes of her classmates on her. She didn't react however, wanting to seem dignified as 1000 year old vampires tend to be. "I expect you all to read pages 83 to 91 and answer questions one to two, five, eight to ten and fifteen. We will take the questions up tomorrow!" The teacher said loudly over the hustle and bustle of the class as the bell rang dismissing them.

She walked briskly down the hall, realizing how slow humans seemed to move. It all seemed like slow motion to her, as she was used to using her super-human speed most of the time. She had to slow herself down quite a bit in order to even be _close_ to human speed, and even then, she appeared to be briskly walking. She would figure out how to slow herself down properly soon enough.

She stopped by her locker, opening it and placing her Data management and Biology textbooks back, and instead reaching for her Shakespeare Anthology. She didn't eat human food, it actually made her gag. Her stomach wouldn't hold it down- she had been too long on her blood-rich diet to try to switch it up now.

She sat alone at one of the tables facing the spot where Elena had stood what felt like only moments ago. She opened the book to page 395 and began to read from Act IV, Scene XV of Antony and Cleopatra. She had always had an affinity towards Shakespearean writing, even his poems somehow spoke volumes to her about the human condition. But also the inhuman one she possessed.

She read through quickly, understanding and interpreting the story thus far. A sad smile crept upon her face… _'Poor Cleopatra.'_ She thought, running her hands along the worn spine of her Anthology. _"To loose one's universe to death is such a tragedy, to lose one's self to death- that is worse.' _Rebekah reasoned internally. She remembered the way she died, the way she was turned into the beast she had become.

_It was a calm autumn day and all of the Mikaelsons had been out enjoying themselves that day. The crisp air a reminder that the cold harsh winter was going to be coming in a few short months, and that they had to prepare. Tonight was to be their harvest feast- the last grand dinner of the year._

_Rebekah had always been so appreciative of the harvest meal. They cooked what perishing provisions they had accumulated over the last few months, and used them. Everyone always tended to leave the kitchen table happy and full to the brim. It was a feeling that Rebekah enjoyed and waited anxiously for a whole year._

_She wasn't even sure if she would be able to attend next year's feast, as she would be old enough to be married off- which no doubt her parents would be inclined to do as soon as possible- so she would allow a bit more indulgence this year._

_The night was falling, and the family was ushered into the small hut that they called their home, the table took up the majority of the living space, and was furnished with all of the trappings, potatoes, and boar meat, chicken and other fowl, and fresh green beans from the garden. Rebekah's eyes could scarcely absorb all of the food that she could possibly eat. _

_The family sat down, gave thanks to nature for the sustenance which it had so graciously provided, and dug in. There was even wine. Rebekah had never been permitted to drink wine before, but there was a chalice set right in front of her, and it appeared that everyone had one, except her mother._

"_Mother, I think I may accidentally have your chalice in my spot." Rebekah had offered, assuming that it had just been a mistake in the setting of the table, her mother shook her head and gave her a nod signalling that she was allowing it._

"_Don't overdo yourself Rebekah." Her father cautioned. But Rebekah had already downed her glass- unsure about the tangy and yet somehow sour fruit taste. There was a certain must to it that she couldn't quite place- but she didn't argue or complain. They ate in jubilant tradition, reminiscing about the past year since the last harvest feast had happened._

_It didn't take long for the six children to become tired- and sluggish with their full bellies. The non-verbal exchange between their mother and father was missed, as he rose from the table and walked towards the entrance of the door. It remained silent for a few moments, save for the sighing and groaning of the six children with their astronomically full bellies. Rebekah was the first to go, the sword pierced through the back of her chair, through her spine and erupted out of her abdomen. _

_The pain was severe- she could feel her collapsed lung as she tried to breathe but to no avail as her lungs began to pool with blood drowning her. Her vision faded as the blade was ripped back through her body. She gargled on the warm blood which was released with every exhale. She could hear faint shuffling and screaming- but she couldn't move. Her chest rose and fell laboriously as she fought for breath. For air that was just out of reach, but so necessary to her survival._

_Necessary but unavailable- she shuddered, her last and final breath escaping her, her body became rigid and she lost consciousness. _

She was jolted from her revisitation when the bell rang reminding her that it was time for her English class, and she got up- Her Shakespeare Anthology in tow, and made her way down the hallway. It was so densely packed with students, she was being bumped in to. Not that it hurt her, not that it could hurt her- she just found it increasingly more annoying as time bore on that people could not seem to extricate themselves from her personal space.

Her English class was basically useless to her. One thing Rebekah did understand was English- She understood subtle nuances and the gradual shifts of the characters within a story. She knew how to work it all out in her mind, and come up with a conclusion, or at least draw speculation from what she was reading.

The class read Act IV, Scene XV; which Rebekah had already familiarized herself with earlier- She understood this play better than she understood most. She understood the longing and the heart ache, and all of the emotions that Cleopatra demonstrated. After the class had finished the scene, the teacher asked someone in the class to explain. Rebekah hadn't even bothered to open her book, and this prompted the teacher to choose her as a target.

"It's Cleopatra; she's watching Antony wither away into nothingness. And she's clutching on to him- because she loves him. When he dies, her hopes of happiness die with him- She believes she will find nothing worth living for in the world, comparing it to a sty. It's tragic really- that she became so attached to this mortal being who was destined to perish, that once he had, she felt it was no longer worth living." She finished, taking the teacher by surprise. Rebekah knew of love and loss, and so she identified with it more than she did any other play. Ultimately it still ended in tragedy; but it was nothing like the imbecilic and trivial plot that Romeo and Juliet followed. No- this was true love; the loss of true love… While Romeo and Juliet was simply a demonstration of childish feelings where true love did not have time to blossom.

The class went smoothly, and Rebekah found she was free a lot sooner than she was expecting to be. She didn't have a class last period, so when the bell rang, she made her way to her locker, and grabbed her stuff, and put it all in her bag. She didn't really know why she was bothering to take anything home with her… She didn't study- she could simply recall everything she ever learned from memory; another perk of being an immortal blood-hungry demon.

She walked slowly down the hallways, trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible, she just wanted to be out of here, to go home and feast. She was admittedly starving. She would have to remember to either get blood bags, or feed twice as much as she usually did tomorrow. The thirst was becoming a burning sensation in the back of her throat, and it was driving her wild. She had half a mind to just sprint full kilter to her car- but she couldn't risk it.

She almost made it to the exit when she spotted Elena- being her usually odd and reclusive self. Sitting alone on the bench by the door. Rebekah wanted to leave, she did- But something inside of her told her that she needed to take a moment to touch base, to make sure that Elena was okay.

"Hey how are you faring?" Rebekah asked plopping down hard on the bench next to Elena. The other girls eyes shot up in surprise, and the look transformed into happiness. Rebekah could feel the girl's heartbeat quicken, and begin pulsing loudly.

"I'm alright I suppose, and you?" Elena asked her, Rebekah pondered it for a minute noticing how Elena's fingers fidgeted with each other. _'Perhaps another nervous tick?'_ Rebekah wondered to herself. She smiled realizing that this was the second time today that she had made the girl nervous.

"I'm doing quite well, I was just about to go home…" She said getting up, and slinging her back over her shoulder. "Do you fancy a ride back to yours?" Rebekah waited for an answer, praying that she said yes, but didn't wait around for a response- but heard Elena shuffle and gather her things as quick as possible and follow Rebekah out to her Nissan.

She opened the trunk and plopped her bag in there, knowing that it would not likely move from there until the next morning when she was forced to bring it all back into the building to pretend like she was learning. She heard Elena plop into the passenger side with her books and bags, and Rebekah slammed the trunk. The sun was shining brightly, Rebekah smiled; rolling her daylight ring around her finger three times.

She walked back to the driver's side door, and opened it and sat down, she turned and put her seatbelt on and tuned the key in the ignition. She could hear the motor ignite a droplet of gasoline, and spring to life. It brought a smile to her lips the way her car purred beneath her fingertips.

Elena gave Rebekah directions to her house, and Rebekah did her best to focus on the driving, but Elena's intoxicating smell filled the entire car- her human smell. It reminded Rebekah of how thirsty she was, how bad she needed a snack. She was so tempted to just pull over and bury her teeth into the soft and supple flesh of Elena's neck, but it took everything in her to refrain. She could feel her eyes darken the way they did when she fought extremes of any kind. She composed herself as they rounded the corner onto Elena's street- Rebekah drove into Elena's drive way and stopped the vehicle. Elena got out, and when she did Rebekah witnessed a bit more of Elena's thigh. Creamy like caramel, and so inviting- but forbidden. _'For now.'_ Rebekah thought.

"Would you like to come hangout for a bit?" Elena offered, Rebekah could tell she was anxious for her to say yes, but she declined. She had to. There was no way she could stand being in such close proximity to Elena for much longer, especially not alone.

Rebekah was afraid of what she might do… Elena's rejected look almost broke Rebekah's heart, and so she offered to come over tomorrow after school for a little while before they were scheduled to meet up at the Grille. Elena's jubilant smile was all the reward Rebekah needed to know that she had done something right.

Once Elena made it inside the door, Rebekah backed out of the drive way, and drove down the road towards her own home. Her throat was burning so badly- If she didn't feed soon, she was going to go mad. When she reached the apartment above city hall, she went to the bookshelf and moved it. Behind that there was a nice little storage unit, she opened the padlock, and reached in for a bag of O-Negative. She placed the straw to her mouth, and began to drink.

She drank it all down- but there was still a hunger left… Not for blood no. But for intimacy. She felt lonely. Her loneliness only fueled her desires for _**"HUMAN" **_companionship. At that precise second, she wished she had accepted Elena's offer to hangout. It would have been so simple to compel the girl to behave as she was fed on, or even initiate intimate contact…

Rebekah shook her head. No. She was not going to manipulate Elena. She would not ever gain her trust, or love by compelling her to do anything that she did not naturally want to do. '_Humans have free will- I can't just go taking it away.'_ Rebekah scolded herself for even thinking of something so ridiculous. But in the back of her mind she wondered how Elena would react if she made her move. Would it scare the poor girl away, or were the signals she had been putting out enough of an inclination to where her true desires led? Rebekah didn't know, she wished she could read minds- even just for a second so she would figure out how Elena Gilbert felt about her exactly.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

**[A/N: Prepare ye for smut.]**

_Elena felt soft lips press firmly to her neck- she reveled in it; her body reacting without her expressed say so. The lips traveled, kissing just below her ear. She whimpered when Rebekah's newly familiar voice whispered seductively in her ear._

"_I've been waiting for this for what feels like forever." Rebekah's voice was breathy and needy to her. It shook her an odd amount to have the breathy voice talking to her, at her. She felt hands on her hips, nails digging in- not painfully but territorially. Elena sighed at the new and welcome pressure, and titled her head back. _

_The lips continued their trail to her cheek and soon her lips were being forcefully kissed by Rebekah. She loved her lips, how soft they were, and how adamantly they continued to put pressure on her own. She felt Rebekah's tongue slide along her bottom lip, trying to gain entry. _

_Elena permitted it, parting her lips and allowing this foreign muscle to explore her mouth. Elena's hands wrapped around Rebekah's waist pulling her closer. Rebekah's body was pressed flush against her own, and she could feel herself trembling with anticipation and a sense of fear. _

_This was uncharted territory after all. She had never done this before. She was over thinking things so much that she had missed Rebekah taking off her shirt and flinging it across Elena's room. Rebekah's skin was a pale cream. Exquisitely white, like milk. Elena snapped from her overthought, and reached out to touch the skin. It was soft, but softer than she anticipated._

_She could feel her eyes start to widen in surprise, Rebekah's skin was the softest thing she had ever touched. Rebekah's alabaster skin trembled at the touch, and Elena's momentary control was taken back as Rebekah backed her against the wall. Their lips connected again- but this time more heated than before. _

_The heat was becoming intense. Far too intense for Elena to deal with- arousal was an understatement. If normal girls got wet, Elena was sopping. Almost as if to read her mind Rebekah's hand reached between them, and snaked its way into her pants. Elena's body flared with heat and passion- her eyes closed and Rebekah's hand began its exploration._

Elena moaned, loudly.

So loudly in fact that it caused her to open her eyes, to bright vibrant sunlight. The rays were so unexpected that she felt momentarily blinded. She was inexplicably confused as to how the setting had changed so quickly… She could have sworn that two seconds ago she was being ravished by Rebekah but now she was laying in her bed. In her warm bed, comfortable, and completely clothed.

She replayed the events in her head. Wondering when she had ended up in her bed and where Rebekah had gone. It all felt incredibly sudden. It took her a moment to register that her physical enjoyment, had been a dream. '_Who has fucking dreams like that?'_ Elena thought, desperately hating that it had in fact been that- a dream. She could still feel where Rebekah's lips had burned her skin, where her fingers had set her nerves alight. She felt like a glow worm, tinging and bright- only at a product of a dream.

It was unnecessarily cruel of her mind to do this to her so early in the morning. She sat there silently for moment, regaining her composure, feeling a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. It wasn't like her to be so 'worked up'. To be completely honest, Elena couldn't remember the last time that she had felt so… well- horny. It was like there was just a switch in her mind that was constantly set to **'on'** when she was around Rebekah, or thinking about Rebekah; which as of late had been a lot.

Rebekah seemed to be the most prevalent thought in her mind, and when she wasn't directly attempting to focus, her mind would drift to Rebekah. How flawless her golden tresses were, and how brilliantly perfect her smile way. Almost as if she were standing right in front of her. Elena thought of her as she got out of bed, and picked her outfit out for the day.

She thought of Rebekah eating breakfast at home, and on her way to school, in school- and yet somehow none of that thinking prepared her for seeing Rebekah in the flesh in the hallway. Somehow she took Elena's breath away, and threw it down the length of a football field. Rebekah hadn't dressed up or anything, but Elena still found her to be stunning…

Strikingly beautiful in her angelic way. But now there was awkwardness and shyness of Elena's part- the dream had really screwed with her internal psyche. She had been so gung-ho for their "date" tonight, but now the midnight fantasy was causing her to blush; remembering Rebekah's dexterous hands. She felt the all too familiar heat of a blush flaming against her skin, she could feel her heartbeat quicken.

Her pulse threatened to break her eardrum, and she took several deep breaths, and walked towards Rebekah. Elena loved this feeling. The feeling of constant buzzing high, elation. Nervousness and anxiety coupled with happiness and excitement; the lines between the two blurred, and melded together. Like melting a cream and white candle in the same holder and trying to differentiate the tones.

When she reached Rebekah she didn't have to fake a smile like she usually had to. No- this smile was genuine and happy- excited. Rebekah's smile matched her own and Elena could feel her heart soar. She chuckled to herself, willing her blush to stop at any point in time.

"Hey, thanks for the ride home last night… sometimes its lame being stuck here after third. But sometimes I can't be assed to walk all the way home." She thanked, the words greedily tumbling out. Rebekah laughed, and the sound made Elena's heart go to her throat. Every time. No matter what, it seemed, Rebekah always found a way to take her breath away. Elena walked towards her locker with Rebekah stuck to her side.

"It's really no problem, I drive that way almost every day. Giving you a ride wouldn't be that big of a deal…" The blonde spoke, shaking her head lightly. "But you make it sound like I'm rescuing baby seals and not just driving you home- which is on the way." She finished giving Elena questioning and yet playful eyes. Elena had to wonder about this girl. There was just something about her that sparked so much interest… Mystery clung to this girl like a glove. And Elena wanted to peel it off slowly but deliberately.

"Well, I'm sorry for thanking you!" Elena said, huffing out her chest as they arrived at her locker. She quickly turned the combination and the locker squeaked open. She put her bag into the locker, and took out the books and supplies she would need for her first two classes. She rarely ever came back to her locker after first, finding it much more practical to just carry it all to and from. "Are we still on for tonight?" Elena hesitantly asked. She was more nervous now than she had been this morning… Part of her prayed that Rebekah would make up an excuse, or say that something came up, and that they would have to reschedule… But she simply smiled and said she _wouldn't miss it for the world._

They walked to Data together, and sat in their respective seats, this time Rebekah giving Elena her usual seat back. Elena loved this angle of Rebekah. It was, oddly beautiful. Before when Rebekah had been sitting in Elena's seat, the sun had shone through and had almost blinded her; making it difficult for Elena to carefully commit all of Rebekah's features to memory. But at this angle, Rebekah's face was lit up by the sun; and she could see her entire face.

She could see the different hues of blue in her eyes when the light refracted off of her pen, she could see the dips and wrinkles in her lips while they were pursed trying to listen to the teacher. She could see the slight dimple to her chin, and the frustration lines on her forehead. She could see all of the little freckles, and one little mole, that would be so invisible unless you knew where to look. Something about this light made Rebekah's skin almost glow, and it brought a smile to Elena's lips.

'_Rebekah is like a firefly'_ Elena thought, stifling a small giggle. How was it that Rebekah managed to be so attractive to her? It was odd for Elena- to be attracted to someone so instantaneously, and to have such an intimate connection like the one they already shared; let alone with a woman. Elena really didn't understand it. _'Maybe it's a phase…'_ she thought to herself again, sending her mind into a hurricane of worry.

'_What if I send her the wrong signals, and she makes a move and I don't like it?'_ she worried herself inwardly. '_What if I do like it? What if she doesn't get my hints? I am socially awkward after all.' _ Elena's fingers went to her mouth and she subconsciously began biting her nails in anxiety. '_What if I make a fool out of myself and everyone finds out? What if we only like each other until the deed is done and then things change?' _

Elena had already bitten off all of the nails on one hand, and was quickly working on the other. When she got to her middle finger however, she wasn't paying attention and bit the nail too far down. When she pulled her hand away it wasn't just her nail that ripped, but her flesh as well.

"Ouch!" Elena said, watching a small pinprick of blood form at the tear area. It hurt really badly, and she was surprised at this. It hurt more than a paper cut, and those things hurt like hell. She put the finger in her mouth as she stood up and walked to the front of the class to get a tissue. She placed it over the ripped area of her finger, watching as the tissue absorbed her blood, and the red blotch grew slowly.

The teacher looked at her and scowled like she was causing a disturbance, and then ordered her to go to the office to get a Band-Aid. Elena walked down the halls aimlessly. She knew she had to get to the office, but she was going to take her time and be a bit leisurely about it. The office wasn't going anywhere after all.

Once she arrived, the secretary _tsked_ her, gave her a Band-Aid and a small alcohol swab and sent her on her way. The way back to the classroom seemed to take so much less time, even though Elena was **sure **that she had taken _**AT LEAST **_the same amount of time on her way back. She opened the door to the classroom, waved her Band-Aid at the teacher, and sat back in her seat.

She looked over to her right, expecting to see the beautiful blonde, who had been so graciously offering her presence as an escape from the mundanity of the class- but she was gone, all of her things packed up, almost as if she were never there. Elena felt her heart sink a little bit, and hoped that she hadn't gotten sick, or ended up having to cancel on the night that was supposed to ensue.

The thought did not burden Elena for long, as the bell rang and she was off to her next class.


End file.
